VANCOUVER — Check out the below video of Bruins wingerNathan Horton, who has been out with a severe concussion, pouring Boston water onto the ice prior to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. The Bruins have gone 3-0 in Boston in the finals but have dropped all three games in Vancouver.

The video is not ours, as it is property of the NHL Network posted to YouTube by our friend Jeff Schools of the Maine Sports Network.

With a series-high six points apiece, Michael Ryder, Mark Recchi and David Krejci have lead the way offensively for Boston, and the Bruins will certainly be counting on their big guns with the title on the line. However, Stanley Cup Game 7 history has shown that big plays often come from unexpected places. Here’s just a pair of examples.

The last time the Stanley Cup finals saw a Game 7 was in 2009, when the Penguins shocked the Red Wings in Detroit for their first title in 17 years. Marc-Andre Fleurystole the show in net, but it wasn’t Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin providing the offense. Instead, Maxime Talbot, a grinder who never had more than 13 goals in a season, scored twice for the Penguins in the 2-1 victory.

Back in 2003, the Devils relied on former benchwarmer Michael Rupp for all three points in their 3-0 title-clinching win over the Ducks. The forward had been a healthy scratch since March, and didn’t hit the ice until Game 4 of the finals when Joe Nieuwendyk went down with an injury. Rupp had one assist through his first three games, but erupted for a goal and two assists in the decisive Game 7.

So who might play that role for the Bruins? Rookie Tyler Seguin has been relatively quiet with just one assist after breaking out in the Eastern Conference finals against the Lightning, while Adam McQuaid, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton have stayed off the score sheet through the last six games.

By Stephen Bailey | Comments Off on Game 7 countdown, 5 p.m.: Compilation of Game 7 predictions

Vancouver left winger Daniel Sedin already gave his Stanley Cup finals Game 7 prediction, in the form of a guaranteed victory in an interview with the Vancouver Sun. He has since said he wasn’t guaranteeing anything. Now, with the decisive contest just a few hours away, predictions are popping up across the web left and right.

Despite numerous statistics that appear to give Vancouver the edge at home, the picks are split fairly evenly. Below is a list of various predictions for Wednesday’s Stanley Cup finals Game 7.

Wyshynski initially had Vancouver winning the series in six games, and he’s still leaning toward the Canucks. “I’m sticking with Vancouver,” he said during an appearance on Mut & Merloni Wednesday morning. “I think this is one of those series where the home team holds serve throughout the entire thing. They’re a different team when they play out there.”

Rosen: “The prevailing opinion is that Tim Thomashas already won the Conn Smythe Trophy. He’ll lock it up with another stellar performance in Game 7. The Canucks strike first, but Boston answers quickly and hometown boy Milan Lucicwins it with a goal in the third period. Thomas shuts the door on the Canucks’ hopes for their first Stanley Cup by making another 30-plus saves to set the record for most saves in a Stanley Cup Final. He will finish the Final allowing only 9 goals in seven games. All that gets left to the imagination is what Lucic will do with the Cup when he brings it back to Vancouver for his day of glory this summer?”

A Twitter joke turned serious Bruins superstition was shut down as the B’s traveled to Vancouver hoping to have Lady Luck on their side. Unfortunately for them, Canadian customs stepped in the way.

To those who aren’t on Twitter, the “#pretzel” hashtag has become a bit of an inside joke among Bruins fans during games, given that the team has won every game this postseason in which the media has been served hot pretzels — a perfect 8-0 record dating back to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

It all started in Philadelphia. The Flyers serve pretzels shaped in the team’s logo, and with the B’s taking the first two games of the series, the B’s didn’t need to go back after sweeping the series.

Pretzels did not make another press box appearance until Game 2 of the conference finals, with the B’s trailing the Lightning by a game at TD Garden. The B’s would take Game 2, and after a tweet about the team winning all three games in which the media had been served pretzels (it was the first time all season that pretzels were served to the press at the Garden), the Bruins — coincidence or superstition — served them for Games 5 and 7, both of which they won.

Then came Games 3, 4 and 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. All pretzel nights, all wins. The Bruins even provided WEEI.com with a pretzel prior to Game 2 in Vancouver, but given that pretzels technically weren’t served to the entire media, it didn’t take.

Well, WEEI.com learned Wednesday that the Bruins actually attempted to bring pretzels from Boston to Vancouver for Game 7 of the finals, hoping to once again make it a “#pretzel” night and a Bruins victory. The plan hit a comical snag, as the pretzels (they had sent a dozen) were seized by Canadian customs and did not make their way to Vancouver.

The Bruins have certainly gone to a lot of trouble to try to win, but the pretzel days are officially over. Looks like they’ll have to make their own luck on the ice.

The Bruins and Canucks have had six games to get accustomed to one another, but little can prepare a player for his first crack at Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. In fact, it’s only happened 15 times.

In 2004, Ference’s Flames took the Lightning to seven games but dropped the deciding matchup on the road, 2-1.

“In your whole career, you’re not going to get too many shots to do it,” Ference said. “Just to get in the final is a treat … I had all the motivation last time as well, sometimes it shakes out the right way for you and sometimes it doesn’t. Everybody knows the stakes but big games are still the same and the pressure remains as well.”

Torres chance came in 2006 with the Oilers, who made an unprecedented run to the finals as an eighth seed. He assisted on Edmonton’s only goal in Game 7, a 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes in North Carolina.

Torres likes his chances much better this year.

“[In Vancouver], we’ve played the right way,” he said. “We put ourselves in a great position all year long to play this way. We feel confident, we’re happy to be home, and it’s going to be good.”

VANCOUVER — The Bruins had no problem addressing the elephant in the province Wednesday.

The Bruins don’t play well in British Columbia (specifically Vancouver) — at least they haven’t thus far in the Stanley Cup finals. They’ve been sound defensively for the most part, and Tim Thomas has turned in the same type of dominance he’s turned in (three goals against in three losses) anywhere else. Yet the team hasn’t been able to create traffic and set up shop in front of Roberto Luongo, limiting their close-range chances and handing the Vancouver goaltender a pair of easy shutouts.

“It seems like we haven’t brought our physical game here to Vancouver,” native Milan Lucic said. “If we can just focus on that and moving our feet, kind of just playing more of a relaxed game ‘¦ It feels like we’ve been tense the last three times that we’ve played here, so if we can do that I like our chances.”

It was interesting that Lucic admitted to playing tense, as it’s seemed clear that the Bruins’ offense has seemed to be just that on the Rogers Arena ice. If there’s any time for them to break out of it, it’s now.

“I don’t think that we’ve had our best games out here,” Chris Kelly said Wednesday, “so hopefully tonight we can correct that and come out and play our best game.”

It’s been a breeze for the Bruins when it comes to getting in close when playing at home. So why, in Vancouver, have the Canucks been able to box them out as well as they have? And why, in turn, have the Bruins seemingly bought into the mirage that is a stronger Vancouver defense at home?

“I think [it’s been] a bit of both,” Kelly said of whether it’s been the Canucks’ defense or the Bruins’ offense that is to blame for Boston’s lack of traffic in British Columbia. “Give them credit. They’ve done a good job boxing us out, preventing us from getting to the front of the net, but I think we need to battle a little harder and find ways to get there.”

If the Bruins can’t find ways to battle harder, their season will end in so-close-yet-so-far fashion. Coach Claude Julien has sent a message to the B’s since they closed out Game 6. The message?

“Crash ‘n bang,”Tyler Seguin said. “We made our adjustments, and obviously we want to get up in their face a little bit more. I think last time in their building they took it to us more than [we did to them], and we definitely want to respond with just as much if not more physicality.”

Yes, the Bruins have been a different, weaker animal in Vancouver than they have been in Boston. But when it comes to Wednesday night, they have to be aware that with the Stanley Cup just 60 minutes (or more) of hockey away from being theirs, they have to look at it as one game to shine, rather than the fourth game of a rough Vancouver experience.

“That’s kind of why we think it’s a different mindset tonight,” Seguin said, “because it’s just one game.